This invention relates generally to headrests or cervical supports, specifically to head cushioning and supporting devices that attach to the upright portions of chairs, or seat backs.
The problems of resting or sleeping in an upright chair are well known to airline, rail, and bus travelers, and there are several attempted solutions in the prior art. Seats on common-carriers often recline only slightly. If a passenger falls asleep in such a position, he or she must unconsciously balance his or her head, constantly contracting many neck muscles. This eventually causes muscle strain and extreme discomfort for most travelers. A more immediate problem, however, is that by falling into a deeper state of relaxation, the head may suddenly fall to one side, waking the passenger and making the possibility of restful sleep remote or hopeless. Many travelers have tried to provide lateral support to their head by placing a pillow next to the hull of the vehicle or on the shoulder of a fellow passenger. The possible spatial orientations of this ad hoc solution are very limited, and the pillow is held fast only by the force of the user's head. A slight shift of the body, neck, or head will allow the pillow to fall out of place.
Patients in hospitals and nursing homes face the same problem when sitting in an upright chair. So that infirmed patients will not be confined to perpetual bed rest, specially designed geriatric chairs allow sitting upright. With wheels on the bottom, these chairs allow patients to move from room to room and participate in greater social interaction than would otherwise be possible. However, health-care professionals often struggle to find ways of providing lateral head-and-neck support for patients in these high-backed chairs. When sitting upright, as opposed to lying supine in bed, the force of the patient's head is no longer exclusively in the direction of the back of the head, but is also to the side. This is a particularly acute problem for sufferers from advanced forms of Parkinson's disease or certain survivors of stroke, whose muscle control is severely impaired. In an upright chair, such patients' heads will often lean abnormally to one side, muscles in the opposite side of the neck rigidly straining to keep the head from falling over. Pillows placed behind the head merely support the head from underneath, not to the side. As happens with sleepy travelers, the pillows used with a geriatric chair usually soon fall out of place.
Portable lateral head supports that are currently available for such geriatric settings contain the head on both sides. Rather than providing needed support and accommodating the abnormal leaning, these devices force patients' heads into a fully straight position, which is often uncomfortable. Patients and health-care professionals also dislike these head-surrounding devices because of their constricting and restraining nature, which is undesirable in attempting to provide a care setting that is as normal, comfortable, and humane as possible.
U.S. Pat. No. 1,744,364 issued to Cruickshank discloses a portable headrest releasably attaching to chairs. This device employs a U-shaped component for receiving a person's head. While providing considerable lateral support, this device encloses the head on both sides, restraining the user's head and restricting movement. Like many later laterally supporting headrests, Cruickshank's device pushes the head forward of the surface of the chair back. Thus, a sleepy traveler who is already restricted from reclining the seat as far as desirable, will have his or her head thrust even further forward, forcing an even less reclined, and therefore less restful orientation. The clamp like mechanism for attaching Cruickshank's headrest is awkward and the screw-in attachment-means can damage the chair.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,567,015 issued to Arias discloses an inflatable headrest apparatus that attaches to a seat with a strap extending around the sides of the chair back and a sheet going over the top of the seat back. This sheet restricts the vertical position of the headrest on the back of the chair, and thus Arias' apparatus cannot adjust for differing heights of chairs or users. Further, the inflatable modules against which the head is to rest do not extend far enough from the seat back and are too rounded to fully support a person's head and prevent it from rolling forward off the apparatus and then down to the chest or shoulder.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,630,651 issued to Fishbane discloses a portable pressure adjustable cervical pillow with elements on either side of the head to provide lateral support. One problem with Fishbane is that the primary element of this pillow is behind the user's head, not to the side of it. Like Cruickshank's device, this pushes the head forward relative to the body, which tends to defeat the ability of the user to fall asleep. Moreover, the laterally supporting elements are comprised of cylinders that extend outward from the seat only a short distance compared to the diameter of the user's head. Thus, as with Arias' apparatus, Fishbane's pillow provides very little lateral support—not enough for an upright user to rest the full weight of his head and neck on the support without the head rolling or drooping. Diagonal straps that travel across the top edge of the seat back restrict the pillow's position vertically on the seat back. Additionally, the position of the lateral supports cannot be horizontally adjusted either.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,975,638 issued to Schreiner discloses a pillow for sleeping upright in a chair that attaches with a sheet and straps in a manner similar to Arias's device. Schreiner's lateral support could not support a fully relaxed human head unless the chin strap is used, thereby greatly restricting movement of the head. Again, as with many other such headrests, an element behind the head thrusts the head forward.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,638,152 issued to Pulsifier discloses a one-sided headrest to be screw-clamped onto a seat back. The clamping mechanism is awkward both in use and storage. Further, the surface of the headrest is of such a size and shape that the user must predetermine exactly which position in which he or she will sleep. Any movement during sleep will cause the user to be beyond the headrest's supporting surface, or will cause the supporting surface to connect uncomfortably with a portion the ear or face.
Some devices with a larger surface for lateral support do not attach securely to a seat back, thus largely or completely defeating the purpose of allowing the user's head and neck fully to relax. See, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,013,578 issued to Sweeney, et al.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,205,878 issued to Wooten discloses a headrest with considerable lateral support, but the device must be built into a seat back.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,033,023 issued to Strassner discloses a portable, attachable headrest for travelers. This device, while providing considerable lateral support, may only be used in certain very limited situations, such as having an adjoining seat sufficiently close to allow the device to be wedged in between seats for secure placement.